Ken Clarke describes Andrew Mitchell as ‘reasonable, courteous man’

Ken Clarke has spoken out in defence of
Andrew Mitchell, the government chief whip who landed himself in hot water by making disrespectful remarks to police officers outside of Downing Street earlier this week.

Despite the outburst at the gates leading to Downing Street, cabinet minster Mr Clarke insisted his fellow MP is ‘a perfectly reasonable, courteous man with the same high regard for the police services as anyone else’.

Ken Clarke has defended Andrew Mitchell following his outburst at police officers (PA)

The veteran politician added: ‘He obviously had a flare of bad temper on this occasion and has rightly apologised.’

Mr Mitchell has also issued an apology following the incident on Wednesday night, which occurred when he was asked to get off his bicycle by police officers as he left Downing Street.

However, the Conservative MP for Sutton Coldfield denied the Sun’s claims that he used foul language and described the police as ‘plebs’ during the confrontation.

His behaviour was described as ‘inappropriate’ by prime minister David Cameron and John Tully, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, has called for the 56-year-old to resign over the outburst.

The incident occurred one day after police officers Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone were shot dead by a gunman in Manchester.